Clock-work imprecision

The punctual suffer in Mexico City,where lateness often seems as natural as gravity. Host a kids’ birthday party and expect guests two or three hours late. Get to the wedding 45 minutes after the time on the invitation and you’re right on the money. I’ve waited an hour and a half for a scheduled interview with a top Mexico City official,only to find out he wasn’t going to make it at all.

So much tardiness,so little time. There are many reasons. The city is enormous,with 20 million people colliding like atoms trying to get to the other side. Traffic is a monster. And,like just about everywhere else,21st century life is full of time-eating distractions. But the main reason for the chronic lateness has to do with Mexico,which as a rule couldn’t give 2 centavos about US-style time expectations.

Mexicans have many traits to admire—their enterprise,their ability to make do,to endure and to enjoy life. Punctuality,though,is nowhere on the list for most of them. The Aztecs may have cared enough about time to carve their famous stone calendar,but you wonder sometimes if people here are still relying on it to get through the day.

“It’s not personal. They’re always late with everybody: with the judge,with the priest,with their wedding,with their mother,with their father,” said Guadalupe Loaeza,a well-known author and columnist (who arrived late for an interview in her own living room). “It’s something we cannot help.”

Loaeza and others offer theories to explain tardiness in Mexico: a certain lack of responsibility,exaggerated focus on the present,generous social tolerance and plain habit.

But there is something else. Time in Mexico doesn’t work the same way it does in the US,which was founded by parsons and scolds who equated being on time with being good.

“Here,the concept of time is very flexible,” Loaeza said. Translation: It’s OK to tell someone you’ll be there in a few minutes when you know there’s no way this cab is getting through that traffic in under half an hour. (But you don’t have to make that call until you’re at least 15 minutes late,seeing as the other person is probably running late too.)

The stretchiness is embedded in words whose job is to fudge,to obfuscate,to create wriggle room,to dampen expectations.

Take “ahorita,” a diminutive based on the word for “now.” “Ahorita” can mean “right now.” But it’s frequently used to mean five minutes from now,15 minutes from now,half an hour from now—anything but now.

“Al ratito” is another diminutive that means “in a little while,” but don’t start checking your watch.

Appointments and numerical time estimates can be as squishy. You may be asked to show up for an office appointment at “9 to 9:30,” rather than on the dot. A “five-minute” delay often means 15 and a half-hour is starting to sound like bad news.

But there are plenty of people in Mexico who are sticklers for punctuality. Monterrey,the business centre in northern Mexico,is known to mind its clock. In Ciudad Juarez,people manage to keep appointments despite the runaway violence.

“Mexicans know when they should be punctual and which things start punctually,” said Victor Gordoa,a prominent image consultant who advises clients to be on time. “For example,the bullfight is one of the few events in Mexico that starts exactly at 4 in the afternoon,and that’s the tradition.”

So you never know. Just when you’ve figured out how late you can be in Mexico,the other person is on time. An expatriate friend played it too cool the other day and missed half of a school meeting that started on schedule.